科学家们发明了一种新型的人造肉，可以像真肉一样自我修复

科学家们发明了一种新型的人造肉，可以像真肉一样自我修复

Artificial flesh is growing ever closer to the real thing. Scientists in Australia have now created a new jelly-like material which they claim has the strength and durability of actual skin, ligaments, or even bone.

人造肉越来越接近真肉了。澳大利亚科学家最近发明了一种新的果冻状材料，他们声称这种材料具有皮肤、韧带甚至骨骼的强度和耐久性。

With the special chemistry we've engineered in the hydrogel, it can repair itself after it has been broken like human skin can, explains chemist Luke Connal from the Australian National University.

澳大利亚国立大学的化学家卢克·康纳尔解释说:“我们在水凝胶中设计了一种特殊的化学物质，它可以像人类皮肤一样自我修复。”

Hydrogels are usually weak, but our material is so strong it could easily lift very heavy objects and can change its shape like human muscles do.

“水凝胶通常很脆弱，但我们的材料很强大，可以轻易举起很重的物体，而且可以像人类肌肉一样改变形状。”

Having a squishy material with such remarkable properties could be huge for the development of next-generation soft robotics and biomedical devices. Creating a shape-changing hydrogel that has multiple functions has proved an ongoing challenge for scientists, even with natural inspiration from jellyfish, sea cucumbers, and Venus fly traps.

拥有这样一种具有如此卓越性能的柔软材料，对下一代软机器人和生物医学设备的发展可能意义重大。尽管从水母、海参和捕蝇草中获得了自然灵感，但科学家们仍然面临着创造一种具有多种功能的可改变形状的水凝胶的挑战。

While some hydrogels can withstand mechanical stress, others have self-healing properties, and a few more have the abilities to memorise shapes or change colours.

一些水凝胶可以承受机械压力，而另一些具有自愈特性，还有一些更有记忆形状或改变颜色的能力。

As far as the ANU researchers know, no one else has been able to incorporate all these functions into one all-encompassing gel. At least, not at the speed and efficiency they've achieved.

据澳大利亚国立大学的研究人员所知，还没有人能够将所有这些功能整合到一个无所不包的凝胶中。至少，以他们现在的速度和效率是不行的。

Putting their material through multiple tests, the authors claim to have created the first dynamic hydrogel that is strong, tough, fatigue resistant, self-healing and able to change shapes and 'remember' them afterwards.

通过对材料的多次测试，作者声称已经创造出了第一种强大、坚韧、抗疲劳、自愈、能改变形状并在事后“记住”它们的动态水凝胶。

The advantages of using such a multifunctional hydrogel is further demonstrated through an ability to lift heavy objects in a reversible and repeatable way upon thermal stimulus, the team writes.

“使用这种多功能水凝胶的优点进一步得到了证明，它能够在热刺激下以可逆和可重复的方式举起重物，”研究小组写道。

Using this material, the researchers made extremely thin films of 'flesh' without any breakage. When these films were heated or cooled, they then changed into different shapes, bending one way or the other before returning back to their original state along with the temperature.

利用这种材料，研究人员制作了没有任何破损的极薄的“肉”薄膜。当这些薄膜被加热或冷却时，它们会改变成不同的形状，以这样或那样的方式弯曲，然后随着温度的变化回到它们原来的状态。

Unlike many other hydrogels, which can sometimes take 10 minutes or more to change shape, the authors say their gel takes only 10 seconds to bend. Here, the key is said to be the gel's dynamic hydrogen bonds and dynamic imine (carbon-nitrogen) bonds, which work together to form "unprecedented properties".

其他的水凝胶有时需要10分钟甚至更长的时间来改变形状，与之不同的是，作者说他们的凝胶只需要10秒钟就可以弯曲。在这里，关键是凝胶的动态氢键和动态亚胺(碳氮)键，它们共同作用形成了“前所未有的特性”。

Dynamic bonds have a high response to stimuli, which makes them perfect for environmental adaptation and self-repair, and imine bonds in particular have fast reaction kinetics that can enable rapid self-healing.

动态化学键对外界刺激有很高的反应能力，这使得它们非常适合环境适应和自我修复，特别是亚胺键具有快速反应动力学，能够快速自我修复。

What's more, the authors say these materials can be easily prepared using simple chemistry, and if other polymers are added to the molecular mix, perhaps even more functions can be achieved.

更重要的是，作者说这些材料可以用简单的化学方法很容易地制备，如果在分子混合物中加入其他聚合物，也许可以实现更多的功能。

If temperature is somehow used as a control, the authors think this gel could one day be moved like an artificial muscle.

如果用温度作为控制，作者认为这种凝胶有一天可以像人造肌肉一样移动。

In a lot of science fiction movies, we see the most challenging jobs being done by artificial humanoid robots. Our research has made a significant step towards making this possible, says material engineer Zhen Jiang.

“在很多科幻电影中，我们看到最具挑战性的工作是由人工类人机器人完成的。材料工程师郑江(音译)说。

We anticipate that researchers working on the next-generation of soft robots will be interested and excited about our new way of making hydrogels.

“我们预计下一代软机器人的研究人员将对我们制造水凝胶的新方法感兴趣和兴奋。”

In the meantime, the team is hoping to turn their hydrogel into a 3D-printable ink.

与此同时，该团队希望将他们的水凝胶转化为3d打印墨水。